Packing vessel.



. Patented May l, |900. F. w. PATTERsuN.`

PACKING VESSEL.

' '(Application filed Dec. 23, 1899.

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATEN FREDERICK IV. PATTERSON, OF NORTH ADAMS, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO ERNEST WV. WERNER, OF SAME PLACE.

YPACKING VESSEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 648,782, dated May 1, 1900.

Application filed December 23, 1899. Serial No. 741,373. (No model.)

T all whom it 17mg/ concern,.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK IV. PATTER- SON, residing at North Adams, in the county of Hillsdale and State of Michigan, have invented a new and Improved Packing Vessel,

of which the following is a speci fication.

This invention is in the nature of an improved crock or jar particularly adapted for packing pork orother meats requiring a brine; to and it has for its object to provide a simple and inexpensive packing vessel for ihe purposes stated having as a characteristic feature a peeuliarlyconstructed bottom and drawing-off aperture coacting therewith, I5 whereby the briny fluid can be quickly and effectively drawn from the crock without any y unnecessary handling of the same or disarranging its contents.

When meats requiring abrine are packed 2o for any length of time-'-say sixmonths or longer--the brine usually becomes sour, fand in consequence thereof must be drawn olf and heated. In the old or present style of crock generallyemployed for packing salted meats 2 5 the meat must be all taken out of the crock when it is desired to empty the brine and the meat again repacked, thus necessitating considerable labor and time, and besides, by reason of handling and repacking, injuring the 3o quality of. the meat.

y I am aware crocks or other vessels having a smooth bottom and an escapefoutlet have been provided. Such form of packing vessel, however, does not effect all the results desired, as the meat will invariably stop up the escape-outlet and prevent the brine running off.

My invention seeks to overcome the objec tions above noted and as found in the present 4o style of crocks or other packing vessels; and

it consists in a new and improved article involving a certain novel construction and arrangement of parts, which I shall first describe in detail and then specically point out in the claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l illustrates the manner in which my improved crock can be packed and held during the operation of removing` the brine. 5o Fig. 2 is a vertical section of my improved crock, illustrating the manner in which the meat sets upon the bottom. Fig. 3 is a hor-. zontal section of the crock. Fig. et is a view of a slightly-modified form of my crock.

In the practical construction the crock has its body 1 made of any Adesired size and shape, its upper end being suitably formed to receive an ordinary cover or Aother closure member.

The bottom of the crock isintegrally formed 6o with the remainder and has a centrally-raised portion 2, which in a full-sized stone crock eX- tends up, preferably, about one inch from the bottom, the said surface 2 being nearly the entire internal diameter of the vessel and separated from the side walls thereof by an annular channel or groove 3, the peripheral 'edge of the surface 2 terminating in a taper or beveled toward the groove 3, as indicated at 2a, the purpose of which will presently ap- 7o ear. p The surface 2 has a series of parallel chan nels or depressions 2c, which in the full-sized crooks are disposed about one inch apart and extendl the full width of the surface 2 and 75 communicate with the-annular groove 3, the

Whole forming, as it were, a central corrugated bottom surrounded by an annular groove or channel-Way 3.

It. will be noticed by reference to Figs; 2 8o Y and 3 that the raised surfacesbetween the several grooves 2c are made, preferably, fiat and all of the surfaces in the same horizontal plane. The object of thus making the surfaces between the grooves 2Cis to provide for a 85 solid seat upon which the meat can rest without danger of being squeezed unnecessarily down into the grooves 2C, :it being obvious that were the raised surfaces rounded or beveled the tendency would be to penetrate the 9o bottom of the meat and cause that portion of the bottom meat exposed over the grooves 2c to press down into the said groove and in a measure retard the proper flow of the brine through the said grooves 2c. It will also be 95 noticed by reference to Fig. 2 that by providing a crock or vessel having a bottom as described the meat, while having practically a solid bearing-surface, Will be held up from the bottom of the grooves 2c to allow for an :oo uninterrupted circulation of the briny fluid thereunder, which not alone provides for the perfect absorption of the brine with the under surface of the meat than Would be possible were the entire bottom surfaces of the meat resting upon a continuons flat bottom, it also providing a collecting-space for the brine from the meat bulk as the brine is being drawn olf from the bottom, the flow of the brine into the annular groove 3 being somewhat facilitated from the upper surfaces 2 by beveling the peripheral edges 2 of the said surfaces. Furthermore, corrugating the bottoni of thecrock as described allows for so placing the drawing-off aperture 5 that it cannot become readily choked up by the meat pressing against it.

The aperture 5 is preferably made upon the side of the crock, as shoWnrin Figs. 1, 2, and 3, in a plane with the bottom of the channel or groove 3, or, if desired, the outlet 5 may be extended through the bottom of the crock, as shown in Fig. 4, it being understood in either case when the crock is filled and set away the outlets will be suitablyV plugged.

From the foregoing, taken in connection. with the drawings, it will be apparent that the brine can be readily drawn olf as desired without disturbing either the crock or the meat contained therein.

Vhile I prefer to corrugate the bottom in one direction only, as shown in Fig. 3 it is manifest it may be corrugated in transverse directions. In either case, however, the corrugations are made to discharge toward the at the top, the upper end of the said top being suitably formed to receive a closure member, the said body portion l, having an integrally-formed bottom, said bottom having a centrally-raised portion 2, said portion 2, having a diameter nearly that of the internal diameter of the body and separated therefrom by a continuously extending or annular groove 3, and having a series of parallel channels 22, formed in the raised bottom surface 2, the bottom of said channel being in a plane with the bottom of the annular groove 3, and discharging into the said groove, the body portion having a drawing-off outlet in line with the bottom of the groove 3, all being arranged substantially as shown and for the purposes described.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a crock or jar for packing salted meats and the like, comprising a body portion having its upper end formed to receive a detachable closure member and having a dat bottom, said bottom having an annular brine-collecting channel at the point where itinerges With the side Walls of the body, said body having a series of raised portions 2, Whose upper faces are dat and lie in the same horizontal plane, the peripheral edge of the uppermost one of said surfaces tapering or beveling toward the annular collecting-channel, the vertical edges of the raised-portions 2, joined by the vertical edges and the flat surfaces being at a sharp angle, the raisedrportions 2, being disposed in registerin g transverse series whereby clearlydeiined collecting-spaces 2C, are provided, and the body portion having a plugged drawingoff outlet 5, in the plane With the bottom of the channel 3,all being arranged substantially as shown and for the purposes described.

FREDK.' W. PATTERSON.

Vitnesses: l

E. W. WERNER, F. E. SMITH. 

